Solo Sail Ends In Disappointment

But Graphic Artist Promises To Race To Bermuda Again

September 06, 1989|By STEPHANIE SHARPE Staff Writer

GLOUCESTER — Four years ago, Barbara Dorr made a decision that changed her life. While on a sailing trip with friends to Bermuda, she became enchanted with riding the waves of the open ocean. She promised herself that she would be the first woman to sail from Newport, R.I., to Bermuda in the bi-annual Newport 1-2 Sailboat Race. None of the few women who had entered the 20-year-old race to Bermuda had ever made it to the finish line.

On Memorial Day, the 54-year-old graphic artist from Thomas Nelson Community College sailed out of a marina in Gloucester bound for Newport and the start of the 1989 race. She planned to sail the solo leg of the race to Bermuda. Like many racers, she had opted to forgo the return leg, where two crew members are allowed on each boat.

For the next two weeks, Dorr fought mechanical difficulties, uncooperative weather and tremendous bouts of loneliness aboard her 30-foot sailboat, Shen Lung, that she'd lived on during the past four years. The farther she sailed from home, the more she began to fear that her dream was turning into a nightmare, she says.

"About two-and-a-half days into the trip up to Newport, I was motoring through a calm when my engine suddenly died," Dorr says. "It acted like something was wrapped around the prop. It turned out to be a big plastic sack like you get potatoes in at the grocery store. But when I was dragging it, it felt huge because it was really slowing me down. At one point, I thought about going over the side to see what it was, but the water was freezing and I kept thinking about sharks."

With no engine, Dorr had to depend on the winds to get her to Newport. By the time she saw the lights of the harbor it was past midnight.

"The entrance to the harbor was really small, and I had trouble finding it in the dark," she says. "I made a lot of mistakes coming in, and I finally ended up running aground on the island. The Coast Guard had to come and pull me back into the water. If nothing else, that was an embarrassing way to make my entrance into one of the most prestigious races on the East Coast."

Her luck didn't change much as the race got under way. On the way out of the harbor just after the start of the race, another boat rammed the Shen Lung, and Dorr had to go back to the dock for repairs. By the time her boat was shipshape, Dorr was nearly a day behind the rest of the sailors.

"The main purpose of the Newport race for most sailors is just to get to Bermuda, not to be first," Dorr says. "So I wasn't too upset about getting a late start. But as I reached the open ocean and started looking for the fleet, I realized I'd be sailing all the way down alone. It was just me and the sea, and the sea wasn't looking too friendly right about then."

The only friendly face Dorr saw during the 10 1/2-day sail to Bermuda was a small whale. She was at the back of her boat working on the weather vane when she heard a horrendous whooshing sound.

"I was so startled by the noise that I almost fell overboard," Dorr says. "I looked down and there was this small whale practically right under my boat. He swam right beside me for quite a while. He'd roll over on his back so I could see his eye. It was almost like he knew I needed some company."

En route to Bermuda, Dorr's engine failed again. When she couldn't get it started, she began to panic. And the closer she sailed to her destination, the lighter the winds got. She says she spent entire days virtually at a standstill.

By her 10th day at sea, she was still 100 miles from her destination. The rest of the fleet had already crossed the finish line, and the weather report showed no sign of wind for at least three more days. The thought of drifting at sea for three more days was too much for Dorr to endure, and she finally broke down and called the Coast Guard for a tow.

"That was probably the lowest point in my life," Dorr says. "I had sailed nearly 600 miles to be the first woman to cross the finish line under her own power, and the wind had defeated me with only 43 miles to go by the time the Coast Guard picked me up."

When she finally got into the harbor about 1 a.m., she was met by horns blowing and balloons and hugs from the other racers. Although the last of the three-day race celebration had ended, the yacht club had kept its bar open and its drinks flowing while everyone waited for the last contestant to limp across the finish line.

Dorr says she learned a lot from her first open-ocean race and will cherish the experience. When the race runs again in 1991, she says she'll be in there with the fleet. And next time, she'll fulfill her dream.